Lester leads Red Sox to World Series title

DENVER (Ticker) - Jon Lester has been perhaps the best feel-good
story in baseball in 2007. On Sunday night at Coors Field he
was just simply good.

Lester pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings and Mike Lowell capped an
outstanding postseason with a home run as the Boston Red Sox
wrapped up their seventh World Series championship and second in
four years with a 4-3 Game Four victory over the Colorado
Rockies.

Boston withstood late-inning homers by Brad Hawpe and Garrett
Atkins to hold on to the 23rd four-game sweep in the Fall
Classic.

With an outstanding everyday lineup and the best starting
rotation and bullpen heading into the season, the Red Sox were
favored by many to win the World Series.

"A lot of people are expecting you to win a world championship,
and if you don't it's a disappointing year," Lowell said. "For
us to come through and do what we thought we were capable of
doing is unbelievable. We've got a lot of people to give credit
to."

Boston combined a lethal offense with dominant pitching to put
an emphatic end to Colorado's season, one that strung together
wins in 21 of 22 games before enduring an eight-day layoff prior
to the World Series.

"We just didn't score enough early in games," Rockies left
fielder Matt Holliday. "We didn't give our pitchers any lead.
We just couldn't score early and that ended up costing us. You
make it difficult on your pitchers when you can't give them the
lead early."

Lowell had two hits off game Rockies starter Aaron Cook and
Bobby Kielty also homered as Boston won its eighth straight
World Series game - they swept St. Louis in 2004 - and seventh
straight triumph this postseason by a combined score of 59-15.

Boston outscored Colorado, 29-10, in the series and allowed the
National League upstarts, who were appearing in the postseason
for the first time since 1995 and their first World Series
all-time, to lead for a total of three innings - all in Game
Two.

"There's only one team that finishes at this point each year and
we're very fortunate," said Lowell, who was named World Series
MVP. "I think we have to tip our hats to the Rockies, not a lot
of people gave them credit the whole series.

"I've never seen a team win 20 of 21 when it mattered like that
and even when they were down they kept swinging the bats. We
tried to keep it together and what gave us the best chance to
win and we did a good job with that. We executed very well."

Lester, who made two relief appearances in the American League
Championship Series against the Cleveland Indians, was making
his first start since September 26, when he was knocked out in
the fifth inning against the Oakland Athletics. He yielded just
three hits and three walks in 92 pitches over 5 2/3 innings,
leaving after issuing a two-out walk to Garrett Atkins.

"Lester was phenomenal," Varitek said. "He was in some tough
spots and he made pitches and stayed aggressive through the
zone."

But Manny Delcarmen came back from a 2-0 count to strike out
Ryan Spilborghs to end the sixth and ensure Lester of the
spotless line.

The 23-year-old lefthander's career was in jeopardy last season
after being diagnosed with lymphoma in late August of 2006. But
a series of offseason chemotherapy treatments put the cancer in
remission, and Lester worked his way back into the Red Sox
rotation by late July.

"I'm ecstatic for him," Lowell said. "Not many thought he would
be in that position, and against a great hitting team like
Colorado. I know he's had to deal with some things - he and I
have somewhat of a bond going through the same thing, I'm just
so happy for him. I know what he's going through."

Delcarmen yielded a long home run to right by Hawpe in the
seventh and a one-out single to pinch hitter Cory Sullivan
before yielding to Mike Timlin, who quieted the Rockies' fans by
striking out Kaz Matsui and Troy Tulowitzki - his third of the
game.

"Those outs were huge," Francona said.

Kielty then came on as a pinch hitter and launched the first
pitch of the eighth inning from lefthander Brian Fuentes into
the left field seats for a 4-1 lead.

"He was sitting around being a professional, knowing his job,"
Francona said of Kielty. "He put a good swing on it. That was
the difference in the game."

The Rockies answered back off Hideki Okajima, who was tagged
with a two-run homer to left by Atkins with one out in the
eighth, cutting the deficit to 4-3.

Jonathan Papelbon then took over and tossed 1 2/3 scoreless
frames for his third save this series and fourth in the
postseason while finishing the postseason with 10 2/3 scoreless
innings. All three of Papelbon's World Series saves were for
more than an inning.

He was helped when Ellsbury grabbed a hard line drive hit by
Jamey Carroll up against the left field fence.

With the entire stadium standing, Papelbon struck out pinch
hitter Seth Smith swinging on a 2-2 fastball to end it. Papelbon
threw his glove into the air and Varitek charged the mound,
jumping in the arms of the awaiting closer. A wild celebration
followed just to the right of the mound as the entire Boston
team joined in.

"When I had two outs, I thought about the guys coming off the
bench and wrestling us, but I had to take that out of my mind
and start over and refocus," he said. "No out in their lineup is
easy, it's a combination of a lot of things. This was a lot of
guys putting in a lot of hard work and working together. I just
don't know what to say right now."

Lester worked a perfect first and worked around a leadoff double
in the second by Todd Helton. Atkins failed to move Helton to
third when he grounded out to shortstop, and Helton would then
have scored when Ryan Spilborghs flied out to deep center. In
the next frame, the lefthander struck out Troy Tulowitzki on a
2-2 slider and Holliday on a 2-2 fastball after Matsui ripped a
one-out double over left fielder Manny Ramirez's head.

"So proud of Jon Lester. I know there are so many things to
talk about with him, but I was impressed on how he composed
himself and pitched well," Francona said. "I'm glad he got the
win."

Cook, who had not pitched since August 12 because of an oblique
strain, gave the outmanned Rockies more than they could have
asked for. The righthander allowed three runs and six hits with
no walks and two strikeouts in 70 pitches over six-plus
innings.

He left after Lowell's second homer of the playoffs and 15th RBI
in 14 games.

Lowell, who also doubled and scored Boston's second run in the
fifth, was 6-for-14 with six runs and four RBI against Colorado.

Boston got to Cook early before the sinkerballer settled in.
Jacoby Ellsbury, the catalyst in a Game Three 10-5 victory with
three doubles, hit his fourth two-bagger in five at-bats when he
lined the second pitch of the game down the left field line for
an easy double.

The speedster advanced to third on a slow roller to third by
Dustin Pedroia and scored when David Ortiz drilled a first-pitch
offering from Cook through the right side of the infield for a
quick 1-0 lead.

But Ortiz was the last Boston baserunner to reach until Lowell
led off the fifth with a double to left-center field. One-out
later, Varitek grounded a hard single to right and the
slow-footed Lowell made a nice slide at the plate to avoid a tag
by catcher Yorvit Torrealba.

GDawg Hate to say it,...but the Rockies really didn't belong in the World Series. They were a great human interest/feel good story but they just weren't in the same league as the dreaded Sox. Boston Red Sox,...they are the "NEW" NY Yankees !!

MLAT COLORADO WORLD SERIES - SCORING UPDATETWO-RUN HOME RUN BY GARRETT ATKINS (1) TO LEFT WITH 1 OUT IN THE 8TH OFF HIDEKI OKAJIMA SCORED TODD HELTON.CURRENT SCORE: BOSTON 4, COLORADO 3DUE UP FOR COLORADO: R SPILBORGHS (.000, 0-FOR-2, BB)

MLAT COLORADO WORLD SERIES - SCORING UPDATESOLO HOME RUN BY BOBBY KIELTY (1) TO LEFT WITH 0 OUT IN THE 8TH OFF BRIAN FUENTES.CURRENT SCORE: BOSTON 4, COLORADO 1DUE UP FOR BOSTON: J ELLSBURY (.400, 1-FOR-3)

MLAT COLORADO WORLD SERIES - SCORING UPDATESOLO HOME RUN BY BRAD HAWPE (1) TO RIGHT WITH 0 OUT IN THE 7TH OFF MANNY DELCARMEN.CURRENT SCORE: BOSTON 3, COLORADO 1DUE UP FOR COLORADO: Y TORREALBA (.167, 0-FOR-2)